Title: In Those Days
Date: December 12, 2023
Author: Jackson Ringley
Mark 1:1-9
The way Mark begins his Gospel might feel unusual for Advent. There’s no Christmas story with the baby Jesus. There’s no angel or shepherd. There’s just John the baptizer. Mark’s narrative may not have all the details we expect approaching Christmas, but his beginning holds the same significance. It tells of a God who humbles themself.
Mark doesn’t like to use excessive details. He gets to the point, which means what he does choose to say is of the utmost importance. Mark tells us that John the baptizer knows of the messiah-on-the-way, someone who he believes is way more powerful than him. Only a few verses later, this messiah arrives, and the first thing he does is have John baptize him. God humbles Godself enough in the form of Jesus to be baptized by a human, one who thinks he is not worthy to even serve the divine.
Even though Mark doesn’t start with the class Christmas story we expect, he still gives us something that demonstrates God’s desire to get close with humankind, so much so that he even gets baptized. What a beautiful thing it is to praise the God who gets close.
Date: December 12, 2023
Author: Jackson Ringley
Mark 1:1-9
The way Mark begins his Gospel might feel unusual for Advent. There’s no Christmas story with the baby Jesus. There’s no angel or shepherd. There’s just John the baptizer. Mark’s narrative may not have all the details we expect approaching Christmas, but his beginning holds the same significance. It tells of a God who humbles themself.
Mark doesn’t like to use excessive details. He gets to the point, which means what he does choose to say is of the utmost importance. Mark tells us that John the baptizer knows of the messiah-on-the-way, someone who he believes is way more powerful than him. Only a few verses later, this messiah arrives, and the first thing he does is have John baptize him. God humbles Godself enough in the form of Jesus to be baptized by a human, one who thinks he is not worthy to even serve the divine.
Even though Mark doesn’t start with the class Christmas story we expect, he still gives us something that demonstrates God’s desire to get close with humankind, so much so that he even gets baptized. What a beautiful thing it is to praise the God who gets close.
Jackson Ringley is a graduate student at Yale Divinity School and the Director of Social Media for Youth Mission Co. He is active with Montreat Youth Conference and Montreat College Conference and enjoys helping young people find their own voice in the Church and world. Jackson holds a BA in English and Global Studies from the University of South Carolina and has a deep passion for queer writing, global literature, and storytelling as a means for social transformation. You can probably find him watching Abbot Elementary, dancing to Taylor Swift, or enjoying a good cup of coffee.
